MPD lost video report requires action, immediate response

If there is truth to a report today by an online news outlet that hundreds or even thousands of videotaped Milwaukee Police Department interviews and confessions are lost, then the police department should be compelled to testify under oath about the matter before the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee.

As a member of the Council and of the Public Safety Committee, the report – by M.D. Kittle of Wisconsin Watchdog – is extremely troubling to me, and should concern every citizen of the City of Milwaukee.

The report alleges that the Milwaukee Police Department’s Tracer “video interview solution” system went down in January, and the video files became inaccessible. The report states that the MPD sent the data to a data recovery vendor, and sources have told Wisconsin Watchdog that the vendor has not been able to retrieve the data.

Why wasn’t the Public Safety Committee made aware of this very serious loss of taped evidence, which could affect the prosecution of serious criminal cases, and perhaps even overall public safety in Milwaukee? How much did MPD commanders know about the problem, and if they did know about it, to what degree did they notify the Barrett Administration about it? And, to what extent did the department work to keep this matter out of public view and under wraps?

I call on Public Safety Committee Chair Alderman Terry Witkowski to use his powers of subpoena in this case, and to compel members of the MPD to testify about this matter under oath.

It’s been reported that the Mayor was asked for more budgeting money for this data system back in October of last year, but he turned them down.

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